Epiphanius of Salamis

Life events

1. Born — 315

   Epiphanius was born in the small settlement of Besanduk, near Eleutheropolis (modern-day Beit Guvrin in Israel), either into a Romaniote Christian family or converted to Christianity in his youth.

2. Educated — 330

   As a young man Epiphanius lived as a monk in Egypt, where he was educated and came into contact with Valentinian gnostic groups.

3. Other — 333

   Epiphanius returned to Roman Palestine around 333 and founded a monastery at Ad, near Eleutheropolis, where he served as superior for approximately thirty years.

4. Ordained — 340

   During his years at the monastery in Ad, Epiphanius was ordained a priest and built up a reputation for learning and linguistic skill, mastering Hebrew, Syriac, Egyptian, Greek, and Latin — earning Jerome's epithet Pentaglossos, meaning 'Five-tongued'.

5. Consecrated — 367

   Epiphanius was nominated and consecrated Bishop of Salamis, Cyprus, in 365 or 367, a position he held as Metropolitan of the Church of Cyprus until his death nearly forty years later.

6. Council — 376

   Epiphanius attended a synod in Antioch in 376 where Trinitarian questions were debated against Apollinarianism; he upheld Bishop Paulinus of Antioch, supported by Rome, over Meletius, who had the backing of the Eastern churches.

7. Wrote — 377

   Epiphanius completed the Panarion (Πανάριον, 'medicine chest'), a catalogue and refutation of eighty heresies written between 374 and 377, which remains the most comprehensive ancient heresiological compendium to survive.

8. Died — 403

   Epiphanius died in 403 during the sea voyage back to Salamis after withdrawing from the council convened by Theophilus of Alexandria at Constantinople against John Chrysostom, having recognized he was being manipulated as a partisan tool.

Relationships

Documented claims

• Jerome called Epiphanius Pentaglossos ('Five-tongued') because he spoke Hebrew, Syriac, Egyptian, Greek, and Latin — an exceptional linguistic range for a fourth-century bishop. (likely)
• A structural feature of the Panarion is Epiphanius's comparison of each heresy to a specific poisonous animal, describing its venom and means of protection — fifty animals across the work, one per sect. (certain)
• Around 394, while passing through a village church near Bethel in Palestine, Epiphanius tore down a curtain bearing an image of Christ or a saint, judging figurative images in churches contrary to scripture; the incident is preserved in Jerome's Latin translation of his letter to John II of Jerusalem. (certain)
• In 392, while in Constantinople, Epiphanius composed On Weights and Measures (Περὶ μέτρων καὶ σταθμῶν) for a Persian priest; the work treats the Old Testament canon, ancient metrology, and Palestinian geography, and survives in Syriac, Armenian, and Georgian translations. (certain)
• The Physiologus, the foundational source of medieval bestiaries, was widely but falsely attributed to Epiphanius in the manuscript tradition, reflecting the breadth of his scholarly reputation in late antiquity. (certain)